1. Field of the Invention
This specification relates to a vehicle control device mounted on a vehicle and a method for controlling the vehicle.
2. Background of the Invention
A vehicle is an apparatus which can be driven by a user who gets therein in a desired direction, and representative examples may be a car and a motorcycle.
For safety and convenience of a user using a vehicle, various sensors and devices are equipped in the vehicle and functions of the vehicle are diversified.
The functions of the vehicle may be divided into a convenience function for promoting a driver's convenience, and a safety function for enhancing safety of the driver and/or pedestrians.
First, the convenience function has a development motive associated with the driver's convenience, such as providing infotainment (information+entertainment) to the vehicle, supporting a partially autonomous driving function, or helping the driver ensuring a field of vision at night or at a blind spot. For example, the convenience functions may include various functions, such as an active cruise control (ACC), a smart parking assist system (SPAS), a night vision (NV), a head up display (HUD), an around view monitor (AVM), an adaptive headlight system (AHS), and the like.
The safety function is a technique of ensuring safety of the driver and/or pedestrians, and may include various functions, such as a lane departure warning system (LDWS), a lane keeping assist system (LKAS), an autonomous emergency braking (AEB), and the like.
To support and increase such functions of the vehicle, a head up display (HUD) is under development.
The HUD projects a virtual image on a windshield of the vehicle. For example, navigation information for guiding speed of the vehicle or navigating a path up to a destination may be output as a virtual image on the windshield.
When the HUD is equipped on the vehicle, a driver can get driving-related information even while viewing a currently-driving road, and thus concentrate on a traffic condition. Accordingly, the driver's burden of having to alternately gaze a dashboard and the road is reduced, and thus the HUD contributes to a reduction of the driver's fatigue and driving safety.
The HUD projects light emitted from a light source such as an LED array on a thin film transistor (TFT) of generating an image, and thus the image generated in the TFT is projected on a windshield and output in a state of floating in a space above a front road surface. Therefore, the driver can check necessary driving information while gazing the front.
With the development of the HUD, the HUD is configured to output a virtual image on a considerable portion of the windshield. Accordingly, even though the HUD has been developed for enhancing driving concentration, the driving concentration is instead lowered due to the virtual image output on the HUD.